Wednesday Chatter: 5 Tips For Getting Over A Reading Slump

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow readers! It's been a while since I've done a discussion post, but I decided today was the day. Not only do I feel like I've won over my blogging slump, I feel the same way for my reading slump. Fingers crossed it lasts, because honestly reading slumps are horrible for us book lovers! I'm going to tell you how I did it, hopefully you guys will find some of these tips helpful.

Let's get right into it.

Wednesday Chatter: 5 Things I Want To Read About

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! Last year as you know Clo and Sam hosted Blogoween, an awesome month-long blogging event full of prompts dedicated to...well.. Halloween. One of the topics for Blogoween got me thinking about plot devices or storylines I want to read more of and I thought I should make a post about it. Let me tell you, a few of these are emotional roller-coasters, because this is me and why wouldn't I put myself through heartache and pain?

Wednesday Chatter: Musings About ARCs And ARC Bans

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

DISCLAIMER

This post is brought to you because I was naughty and broke my self-imposed ARC ban with signing up for 4 blog tours (I am a weak, weak individual) and Soph @ Bookwyrming Thoughts held me accountable and gave me this punishment topic.

***

Why You Don't Actually Need The ARC You Really Really Want During An ARC Ban

I have a confession: I have an ARC problem. Because I have a lot of overdue ARCs I have to read and I feel quite guilty about them I've decided to go on a temporary ARC ban. I'm only allowed to sign up for blog tours for authors I've worked with in the past. I've been on an ARC ban since July and it's been an interesting experience. When I broke my ban because I wasn't able to resist signing up to some unplanned blog tours and Soph gave me this punishment topic to talk about it got me thinking about why I had that feeling of "I need these books" when I signed up for the blog tours, as well as what requesting ARCs meant long-term. It led to some pretty interesting results, people.

Source: Giphy

I feel like before we start I need to add this: I've been on an ARC ban before, ages ago. I went a year without looking at Netgalley and it was absolutely, positively miserable

The fear of missing out is big. Since the hype is always with upcoming books, bloggers and reviewers try to ride that wave as long as they can. There's a pressure to stay current, even if sometimes that pressure is something we put on ourselves. I acknowledged that feeling in myself even before I went on an ARC ban, but right now I realized that the feeling is totally irrational. Unlike what happens with doll prototypes that sometimes never get to be mass-produced, books will be published. So the feeling of not being contemporary or not riding the wave of popularity isn't real. So what if you don't have the ARC? If it's a book you really want to read, you'd probably go ahead and buy it or borrow it and you'll still get to read it. 

I'll admit that during this month I did check out my usual ARC spots, but realizing that I'm not actually missing out on anything made me feel like a weight was lifted off of my chest. Now I know what you're going to say. "But Ruby, you signed up for four blog tours". You're right, I did. But that's because I had a weak moment. I'm not saying I won't join tours or I won't request in the future, because that is a lie and it's a pointless lie too. But I'm more conscious about what I'm requesting and what I'm signing up to, and I'm less disappointed over the idea that I don't get to read a certain book before it publishes. Because, once again, I still will get to read it in the future.

I'm sifting through my overdue ARCs and I realize that by chasing new releases I miss out on older books that deserve the same amount of attention. I went through some older review copies and with a few I had this overwhelming urge to kick myself for not getting to them faster.

Another thing that I realized with my ARC ban is that sometimes the hype around an upcoming book makes me not pay attention to my instinct when it comes to a certain book. I know myself very well and I am usually right when I think I'll like or dislike a book. The hype around a book kind of makes me want to completely ignore that initial reaction. Sometimes the results are amazing and I end up loving a book I thought I would dislike, but I've also had a few situations in which I was right to think I wouldn't enjoy a book. So unfortunately I have DNFed a few books since this ARC ban started.

Do we need ARCs? Not really. Do we want ARCs? Yes, yes we do. So although I definitely won't be requesting as many ARCs as I have going forward, I won't stop requesting them completely.

Let's discuss: Have you ever put yourself on an ARC ban? If yes, how was it? Did you manage to keep it, or were you naughty like me and broke it? 

Wednesday Chatter: Ratings, Reviews, and Drama

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hi everyone! I was browsing on Twitter a few days ago and I stumbled across a tweet from AudioShelf about ratings:

We came across this tweet from an author and it sparked a conversation.

😳🙄😡🤬https://t.co/514xb6vakS pic.twitter.com/Tofwa2zohl

— AudioShelf (@AudioShelfMe) May 24, 2019

Now, conversations about how the desired reviews are 5 star ones are nothing new in the book blogging community, in fact I think it's been a recurring theme since book reviewing became a common thing to do among the general public, not just something literary critics did. So we've all heard about how 5 star reviews are good, everything less is bad.

At the same time with this conversation there was another one about an author and their bad reaction to seeing a reviewer gave their book a 1 star review. I'm not going to link to that conversation and to the entire situation, because I could never do it justice, but if you want to know more about this Paige from The YA Kitten talks about it in depth on her blog.

As if that wasn't enough, that same week yet another author took to Twitter to discredit any reviews with a lower rating than 5 stars because they have no value, and said that the readers who gave a lower rating are confused and they need to be handheld by the authors.

 

Source: Giphy

Before we get started I want to say that this is mostly about my own rating system and what is behind my rating, and also how I view ratings and reviews, and it is possible that my views don't match with how some other people view ratings. This is my personal experience, and you are more than welcome to share your opinions or disagree (respectfully) in the comments.

Wednesday Chatter: 5 Books Most Out Of My Comfort Zone I've Ever Read

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hi everyone! I was rereading Evelina's discussion post about why we read certain books and it got me thinking about reading books that are out of my comfort zone, but most importantly why I read them. And since any thought can be turned into a discussion post, here we are.

Before I start, let me clarify something. Usually, as you've noticed throughout the years I've been blogging, I tend to stick to certain genres. I'm comfortable enough in my reading to know what I need to read at a certain point in my day-to-day life, and I tend to not deviate from those genres because I really don't want to be disappointed. That being said, I've had moments in my life where I felt like I "should" try something else, when I felt like because I was studying psychology I should try the most challenging stories ever, because most of my university colleagues were reading them. Fortunately some of these books were actually interesting enough that I managed to enjoy them, but some of them weren't such a good fit for me. I'm going to share a few of those books, along with who recommended them to me, and why I read them.

Wednesday Chatter: Why I Started Using The HTML Editor Instead Of The Text Editor

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my lovely bookish friends! Today's post is going to be just a little bit different than what you guys are used to from me. The idea for today's discussion post came to me while I was writing some other blog posts and I thought it was a great thing to talk about with you guys. Let's get right into it!

Wednesday Chatter: How I Fell In Love With Audiobooks

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my lovely bookish friends! Here we are, with my very first discussion post of 2019, and I'm talking about Audiobooks, how I discovered them, and why I now love them. Let's dive right into it.

Wednesday Chatter: Why I Failed At Blogoween

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! Today's post is going to be a little bit more serious than my latest Wednesday Chatter posts. Today I wanted to talk to you about Blogoween, why I failed it, and why sometimes taking a break isn't the best thing for me.

Wednesday Chatter: Strange Things I Think About While Reading

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! I wanted to get a little bit more personal today, so I'm going to talk about the weird stuff that goes through my head while reading. Now, I'm not going to talk about the super famous things most people think about. These are weird stuff that I've rarely seen people mention, maybe because they're smarter than me or because they don't have the same issues I do. I'm also including a trigger warning, because I feel like for this post, I really should.

TW: menstruation, phobia

Wednesday Chatter: Five Things Bookstagram Is Teaching Me

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! I've been thinking about doing a Bookstagram post for a while now, and I thought what better time than today, the week after my self-imposed vacation from all things blogging.

Wednesday Chatter: Five Things That Cleaning My TBR Is Teaching Me

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello fellow book lovers! By now you're probably familiar with my Down The TBR Hole series of posts, but in case you're not, it's a feature hosted by Lia @ Lost In A Story where you look over your TBR shelf and you clean it of any books you know you're not going to read. I've been doing it for almost two months now, with 15-20 books a week, and while Since I started doing it I've realized a few things about myself and I thought I'd share with you guys. So without further ado, here are

Five Things That Cleaning My TBR Is Teaching Me

Wednesday Chatter: Why Blog Tours Rock

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! Today's mini-rant post was inspired by Vicky's post on Privilege in the bookish community. If you haven't read it yet, do yourselves a favor and go read it. Go on! I'll wait here.

Wednesday Chatter: 8 Years Of Blogging And Reading (and counting)

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my fellow book lovers! Today's post was inspired by the fact that *surprise* my blog is 8 years old.

 

Source: Giphy.com

Well, more accurately, 8 years 3 months and 9 days old. Wow, time flies. I previously did something similar on a Wednesday Chatter post, where I talked about how blogging changed me. I kind of wanted to update on that post a little bit, since I feel like I've grown quite a lot since 2015, when that post was written, as a blogger, as a reader, and as a person in general. So without further ado, here's my celebratory post about

Wednesday Chatter: Ratings and Why I Take Them With A Grain Of Salt

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello dear book lovers! Today I want to talk to you about ratings. I was inspired by a discussion I had with Lia over on Twitter, and by one of the interview questions Fanna had for me in her Interview Of The International guest post series.

I've always been a firm believer that while it's good to have rated reviews, because they give some sort of guideline for when you're checking out a book you are curious about, at the end of the day, those ratings are subjective. What I consider a 5 star book some other reader might view as a 3 star book or lower.

At the same time, my 5 star rating and another reader's 5 star rating, ultimately, don't mean the same thing. For example, for one reader it might mean the book had no issues, no little detail that may be seen as problematic. For me, however, a 5 star rating refers to a book that, despite those issues, of which sometimes I'm aware of and sometimes I'm not, has the elements of a great read: good plot, good pacing, great characters, great conflict, AND not a lot of inconsistencies. I accept that in long series there may be some inconsistencies, but not the kind that make me think a character has blue eyes in chapter 3 and then two chapters later that same character has red eyes with black dots. Unless it's some type of shifter and then it's something that makes sense.

Besides the regular rating, I also am a firm believer in half stars, if you use the 5 star rating system. For me, there's a big difference between a 4 star rating and a 5 star rating. Besides the quality aspects in the story and characters, a 5 star book means I'll definitely be rereading it at some point, a 4 star read I might reread, and anything under doesn't usually end up in my reread pile. However, there are subtle details, small things that will make a book better than a 4 star read, but not quite a 5 star read. It's difficult to explain, and it's usually little things that make me go for that extra half star.

Does that mean ratings don't count? No. Ratings definitely count. BUT. I like to take into account what that reader or that reviewer considers a 5 star review and then go from there when trying to decide if the book in question might be something I'd enjoy, based on a reader's rating.

That being said, I am rarely shocked by a book getting certain ratings, be they high or low. Each and every one of us is a single individual with things we like and things we don't like, things we have in common with others and things we don't. It's only natural that a book will find its perfect reader. This is why I have so many erotic novels in my Read shelf on Goodreads. At the same time, we also evolve as readers. For example, if anyone had told me, 10-12 years go, that I would enjoy reading anything other than erotic romance books, I would have laughed in their faces. And yet here I am, reading mysteries, thrillers and YA books and loving them.

While I do believe that ratings are a great way to categorize books and to make you figure out what is popular and what isn't, I think it's important to remember that ratings have always been and will always be subjective, and each and every one of us has different ways to interpret them. It's why we might love an "underappreciated" book or series (take my deep love for Beautiful Creatures) and why we might be the black sheep and dislike "hyped" books (me and ACOMAF).

Let's discuss. Do you think ratings have a universal meaning or do you focus on a combo of rating and review when trying to decide what to read next?

Wednesday Chatter: 5 Characters That Need Their Own Books

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello dear book lovers and welcome to another Wednesday Chatter post! Today I want to talk to you about some characters that I wish would get their own books. Unfortunately, I will probably always just keep on dreaming about one of these characters getting their own story. A girl can dream, right?

1. Samwise Gamgee - Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I've said it once and I'll say it again: one pf the true heros of The Lord of the Rings is Sam. He's the brave one that has everything to lose, that doesn't know where he's going, that is totally devoted to a guy he considers his "master", while Frodo whines. Yeah, yeah, he agreed to take the Ring into Mount Doom, but I can't help but think Frodo just wanted to emulate his uncle, Bilbo. I would love to know what happens to Sam after he gets married, after Frodo takes the ship to the Undying Lands. I want to know about his family.

Source: Popkey

2. Georgiana Darcy - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

While I've always had a crush on Mr. Darcy, I always wondered about his sister. Georgiana is a mystery, and besides the fact that Wickham had previously tried to get her to fall in love with him and eventually marry him, I know nothing about her. From what I remember she was sweet, shy, and she saw her brother the way I would imagine she would have seen her father. I always wondered about that. I would definitely have loved to read a story about Georgiana all grown up.


3. Neville Longbottom - Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Every now and again I wonder about the unfairness that Neville had to go through. Sure, I always sympathized with Harry, but I always hated when Neville was always made fun of, even by the narrator. I want to know what happened with Neville, I want to read about him growing up before getting to Hogwarts, I want to read about him meeting the woman or man of his dreams, I want to see him happy.

Source: Popkey

4. The Darkling - Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

So... I haven't yet finished the Grisha trilogy, so I don't know the full story of the Darkling. But if there's one villain that has fascinated me since the first moment I met him on page, it's him. I am curious about him, and, much like any other villain, I want to know what makes him bad. Was he born bad, or was he made bad by his need for power? What made him devolve in his evilness? I know I probably would have the answers I need in the last book of the trilogy, but I would love a short story from his POV.

5. Savitar - Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I am pretty sure he'll get his own book sometime in the future, but I would very much like for that future to be now. Savitar is the eccentric guy that loves surfing, sarcasm, and killing anything that annoys him. I would love to know his story, if somehow Appolymi is going to be his soul mate, the real reason behind him helping Acheron, the reason why he lives alone, away from anyone that might mean something to him. He loves power but he doesn't abuse it, and when he's not being sarcastic, he's a great guy. I need his story now.

Let's discuss. Which character deserves his or her own book in your opinion? Why?

Wednesday Chatter: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Mood Reader

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks

WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hello my lovely bookworms! Today I wanted to talk to you about the ups and downs of being a mood reader. Also, a big shout out and a huge thank you to Nicole from Feed Your Fiction Addiction for compiling the awesome list of discussion posts ideas where I got the idea for today's post from. Thank you Nicole!!

I've always been a mood reader. Ever since I started reading for fun, I've known to listen to that little voice inside my head asking for a certain type of book. The same can be said about me and music. However, unlike with music, where seasons influence my Spotify playlists and I know just what I'll be listening to in, say, August, my reading moods are completely random, and really unpredictable. I can stay here all day and plan what I'll be reading in April, but the truth is, I can't make a plan or a realistic TBR, because I might not want to read those books when the time comes. The good thing is that I'm not always in a mood to read a certain genre. It fluctuates, and sometimes that inner voice shuts up, satisfied for having been on a genre/author binge. As with every thing in like, being a mood reader has its good sides and its bad sides. 

The Good

• The first thing I learned in all these years is that being a mood reader allows me to discover many new to me authors. I've probably discovered more new authors when I'm in one of my moods than when I read whatever it is that happens to be next on my TBR list.

Source: Popkey

• Another good thing that happens when I'm in a mood reading episode is that I'm able to enjoy and appreciate certain books or themes a little bit more than I would if I wasn't in a mood read. It happens a lot more than you think, and it's not that it makes my rating deceitful, but it does make me ignore some flaws or things I normally wouldn't enjoy reading about, that otherwise I wouldn't be able to ignore.
• Ultimately, being a mood reader definitely helps me read more in a shorter time. For me being in a mood reading episode is the complete opposite of being in a reading slump. Take January, for instance, when I was on a romance kick and I read 11 books. By comparison, February was a slump month and I only read 7 books. Now, while I don't have a set number of books I want to read in a month, being in a reading mood definitely helps me get closer towards my yearly reading goal.

The Bad

• One bad thing of being a mood reader is that, usually, I have a hard time enjoying other genres or authors, so much so that I usually DNF books that I normally wouldn't DNF. So I've learned to not try out other stuff if I'm not in the mood for them. For example, if I'm in the mood for dark erotica, I sure won't be trying out any romance books. Luckily, this doesn't apply to books I have to read. My brain allows me to read the books I receive for reviews when I'm in my mood reading episodes, so that's a relief.
• Another bad thing is that while I'm less critical of certain themes or words or even scenes, being compelled to read a certain type of books makes me more critical of other things. It's not uncommon for me to DNF a book in the genre I'm reading or by the author I'm bingeing if I don't feel it meets certain requirements. This might sound confusing and almost like I'm contradicting myself, but I've DNFed books by my favorite authors more frequently while bingeing that author's books than in any other instance in which I picked up their book at random.
• Last but not least, being a mood reader makes my TBR get way too big. Because while the mood to read something strikes me at random and it's hard to predict when it will strike me, it's also hard to predict when it will end. And I usually don't enjoy reading something that I've just binged on if I am no longer craving that type of book. It's like I'm fully sated and I need to distance myself from that genre or that author in order to continue to enjoy their work. My TBR also gets bigger because the more books I read by an author, or in a genre, the more books I discover that meet certain criteria and the more books I want to read. Basically everything makes my TBR pile get bigger and bigger. 

Let's discuss. Are you a mood reader? What are your challenges as a mood reader? Or how lucky are you that you are not a mood reader?

Wednesday Chatter #21: Trusting The Author - Take 2

Hello my lovely bookworms!

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Today's topic is a little sensitive and slightly inspired by drama, so please keep that in mind. Also, keep in mind I'm writing this while being super sleepy, so I may be coming across as extra bitchy #sorrynotsorry

I want to talk to you about trusting the author, expectations and why sometimes it's best to let authors do their thing. I previously wrote another post about Trusting the author (hence the Take 2 on today's title), but I feel like I need to write another post on this topic.

A few weeks ago I saw a Facebook post that a very well-known author wrote about how they weren't writing books for a certain segment of readers, they were writing the story that they wanted to write and the story they felt was true to the characters. Notice how I'm not naming the author? It's not because I don't want to name who it is, but because this isn't a discussion about a certain author, or about author behavior, but rather a discussion about storytelling itself and the readers. This author went on to say how they received messages from fans complaining about certain books, how some characters ended up with the wrong person, yada yada yada.

Source: Popkey

This FB post prompted a memory. Years ago...I think....maybe almost 4 years now? Anyway, years ago a different author decided to do what was, in my opinion, a brilliant marketing decision/campaign, by having fans pick the ending of the last book of their trilogy. Again I won't name the author, but a little search on the net will reveal exactly who the author is.

Now here's the thing. I don't know if this author was really going to write the book as the fans wanted said book to be like. I also don't know if the author simply wanted to get more publicity on their book and chose this brilliant way to do it. All I know is that it got people talking. And boy were some of them pissed. I remember seeing comments going from "wow I didn't expect this" (which isn't that bad) to "wow this author can't write" (and really other rude comments). So basically some where really mean comments.

Source: Popkey

Can you see the hypocrisy there? Here you have an author willing to give readers what they wanted, a book where they can decide what happens, and most people were angry and disappointed and saying how the author can't write their own book. And at the same time you have readers complaining about a story not going the way they wanted it to and telling the author they were wrong with their own story. I'll tell you what, I happily voted on the ending. I kept my fingers crossed that I would get the ending that I wanted, but I also didn't fully believe that my vote was truly going to influence the story. Why? Because authors write, readers read.

Before you roll your eyes at me, hear me out. Right now, I'm 100% convinced that Alina will end up with Mal in the Grisha trilogy, which I haven't yet finished. (I'm a chicken, but I will finish reading that series in March). Does that mean I'm happy? No. But that's how the author saw that story going, and that's how I'm reading it. I'm trusting the author to write their story, not the one I want to read no matter what.

I'm not saying "don't have expectations", because we all do. I have those expectations with each and every book I pick up, and with every movie I watch. What I am saying however is that if you're not enjoying the book, the movie, whatever, why are you pushing yourself and forcing yourself to read or watch it? Stop reading it, stop watching it, pick up another book or movie or whatever. I don't understand people who force themselves to read something when they know they're not enjoying themselves. But that's another topic and one I really don't want to get into right now.

Back to talking about trusting the author. Readers trust the author when they pick up a book to write a good story (with good being a very subjective thing - much like rating stars), one that makes them feel things, one that maybe even makes them think, but definitely one that entertains them. If I can't trust the author, I don't enjoy the story. I don't like it when an author lets me down, and oftentimes I DNF the book.

I imagine we all pick up a book expecting something, whether it's a life lesson, a good representation about something or someone, or even just plain smut for those who enjoy erotica. Ultimately, we want to be entertained. Is this entertainment more important than the quality of the finished product though? I once saw a quote on social media (don't remember where or who said it; if you know, let me know in the comments) that said something along the lines of "if the book you want to read hasn't been written yet, write it yourself". Do we all have the gift of storytelling? No. And while yes, I am a reviewer, and I do write critiques to the books I read, whether positive or negative, I don't feel like I should start dissecting a story and point out all the mistakes, in detail, and offer pointers on how those mistakes should have been dealt with to those who do have the gift of storytelling, those who try to write something and publish it, no matter the form. I'm including fanfiction here by the way, since I've read some truly awesome fics.

Would you tell a painter they should have used a color instead of another? Would you tell a game designer they need to code a certain way to have the trees on the right instead of on the left of the screen? No? Well...then... trust the author to write the story that made sense to them, trust them to have a plan, or just don't read it.

Bottom line is, we all have different tastes in reading, and with the amount of books and fanfiction out there, we're bound to find the story that satisfies us. So maybe instead of telling an author how they made a mistake in writing a story the way they did, how about we branch out and try out a new author? You might even find the gem you've been waiting for.

Source: Giphy

PS: Please don't give me spoilers on the Grisha trilogy and how it ends. I'm going to read that book this month. No spoilers! :D

Let's discuss. Do you trust the author when picking up a book, no matter your expectations?

Wednesday Chatter #20: Why Being International Is Awesome

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hey everyone! I think it's safe to say that, by now, you all probably know about the limitations Netgalley and Goodreads have put on authors and international readers. You've seen the posts, the tweets, the confusion and anger, which I've felt, as well as many, many other international readers and reviewers. It's only natural. 

Source: Giphy

And before anyone starts thinking "OMG, yet another international blogger complaining about ARCs", the point is so not about the ARCs here. The entire situation is not about that. I'm one of the lucky, privileged bloggers that do get ARCs even if I'm international. But the ARCs are not the point.

And this post isn't about the negative side. It's about the positive side. Here's why:

After people started discovering the changes in Netgalley and Goodreads, a bunch of international bloggers started getting together. And lo and behold the International Book Bloggers group was born. And here's why it is absolutely awesome:

1. Meeting new people and making friends

It is fantastic to discover bloggers. I love the feeling, because we're not only united by a common passion, which is books, but I got to discover the people behind the blogs. I can safely say I've made new friends. They're truly awesome people and beside following each other and supporting each other, we're really just people having fun, talking, making friends, and being nice.

2. Support Group

This is obviously one of the "perks" if you want to call them that, but not only do we follow each other, we also support each other. There's no competition over there to be the "best", the most popular or to one up one another. Which is something I think a lot of bloggers have forgotten a little bit. We've all heard the talk about the competitive side of the community, but when you dig deep enough, you realize it's actually not competitive at all. Which to me never made any sense. It's not as if certain books are available only to a certain group of people, while the rest of the population doesn't have access to them. We're not in the middle ages, basically. In the time I've been in that group, the members have shared giveaway links, tutorials, blogging hacks and ideas, arc announcements, they've commented on each other's blog posts and have been offering encouragements. If that doesn't prove that this isn't a competitive group, I don't know what will.

3. Non-bookish Support and General Fun

Before you go thinking that we're only talking about books, let me tell you, it is not true. We talk about everything and anything. Wanna talk about fitness? You can do that. Video games? They're your people. TV shows and movies? Most definitely. Vent about something? You can do that too. Want a virtual party? You guessed it, we got that too.

It's a safe place and I don't say that to get on anyone's good side.

It just has that feeling, you know?

Do I need to go on? No? Thought so.

In case you're wondering who these awesome human cupcakes are, Pagan over at Paperback Kingdom compiled a list including all of them, a list that's growing constantly by the way, so be sure to check it regularly. Also, check out Fanna @ Fannality, as she interviews each of the members of the group who signed up for an interview/guest post over on her blog. As a side note, my dear friend Rafael from The Royal Polar Bear Reads also has a blogger spotlight feature where he interviews bloggers, but I don't know if all of them are in the International Book Bloggers group. I may be wrong, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, this is why being international is awesome. And I'm glad I get to end 2017 with this Wednesday Chatter, because I can only imagine how much better 2018 will be with these amazing people.

P.S.: If you want to be a part of such an awesome group and if you're international, send me a tweet over on my Twitter account and I'll see what I can do.

Wednesday Chatter #19: Things I Struggle With As A Blogger

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Today's post is a bit strange for me to write, not because it's too personal, but because I've never actually tried to put any of this into words. I've always assumed it was just me that has to deal with this, and just rolled with it, because that's what I've always done in situations in which I'm uncomfortable, just smiled through it all, hoping no one notices. I've decided however that it's in my best interest to admit these things, especially since I've been proven quite recently that in most of these cases, I've kind of... well, exaggerated is a too strong word, but let's just say it's in the vicinity of that. So, without further ado, here's stuff I struggle with as a blogger.

• Being the black sheep

This one I've talked about before, about how I hate writing negative reviews, ant it's still one of my biggest issues to date. In over 7 years of book blogging, this hasn't changed. And it's not just because of the fear of backlash from authors or their fans. It's also because I genuinely hate writing a review where I can't even give the book a 2.5/3 stars. I feel like that idiot that points out all the wrong stuff, without having actually tried to do the thing I'm criticizing. It gets especially difficult when the book in question has a huge fanbase, in which case I feel like I've either missed the point of the story completely, or I just didn't read the same book. 

I know that I've wrote a similar post where I said I planned on changing that, and try to write more negative reviews, or at least the ones with less stars, but it's truly hard, people. Even worse is trying to write a review for books I DNFed, because then I'm confused. What do I even say? "I stopped reading at page xxxx because I was bored"?? That sounds mature and accurate. This is especially hard when seeing all those convos on Twitter between other bloggers going on an on about not trusting reviewers that don't write negative reviews. Which, I kind of understand, but it still makes this difficult.

I am thinking about making mini-reviews for the negative ones. Maybe then I'll feel less guilty for not writing them and/or gain more trust since I have constructive criticism? I don't know.

• Starting the conversation

You might not realize this about me, but I wasn't always this shy, quiet creature I am now. I was actually a pretty outgoing kid, able to struck up a conversation with just about anyone, and that includes strangers. Then teenage years happened and with that came bullying and with that came...me not wanting to talk to strangers, basically avoiding situations in which I could stand out. Which makes me seem like I'm some kind of bitch, which is not always true.

I swear this is just my thinking face!

I'd like to think I'm more of an anxious puppy-faced human, but I may be biased.

Regardless of why I went from full-on extrovert to a strange case of social introvert, I get closed up when having to interact with strangers. Just to give you an example, it took me about 3 weeks after I started working before looking some of my coworkers in the eye and start up a conversation with them. Cut to a year after, and I'm the one pestering them all day long, making jokes and being "one of the group". It takes me a while to find my courage to interact with strangers, which gets me to blogging.

If you want to be noticed, not for all the ARCs, not for the review copies, not even for the mentions in the Advance Praise pages of a book, but just to be in that situation of "Oh hey, so you're this person" or "Oh, I just talked to x blogger", you have to talk to people. I think in my 7 years of blogging I've actively talked with less than 10 people. BECAUSE EVERYONE SEEMS COOLER THAN ME AND WHAT AM I DOING HERE? Twitter chats help a lot, because that's how I got to talk to most of the bloggers I'm having convos with, and, strangely enough, Instagram stories. 

Now don't think this is me trying to get sympathy pageviews or whatever, because it's not. I'm just trying to explain why, even after all this time, I'm still kind of one of the smallest bloggers out there. 

Also, I'm always kind of scared of bothering someone. So let's say I start up a conversation with someone. And then the second. And then the third. If I get to the fourth conversation that started because I was the first one to reach out, I'm thinking maybe this person doesn't want to talk to me. So I just don't insist.

Which brings me to my next point.

• Actually getting in touch with authors, publishing houses, editors, agents and the like

Sites like Netgalley and Edelweiss, PR companies that send out emails whenever they have new upcoming blog tours are amazing. They save my blog more than they realize, because that's how I get most of my review copies. It takes a lot of courage to actually get in touch with people that are in the industry, and I find it even more difficult than actually getting in touch with other bloggers. 

Most authors that I'm friendlier with are authors that have written to me, which is still exciting, because they wanted to have some kind of connection with my blog, which feels amazing. Only then do I feel comfortable enough to talk to them, because then I feel like I already know them in some way, shape or form, and it's not as awkward for me.

This doesn't mean I suffer from ARC envy, because it's not. Hell, I'm super happy when I see book reviewers receiving packages from publishing houses, because: 1) I get to learn about upcoming books, and 2) I get excited for those books because people that I trust are excited for them. Also, ARC envy is just stupid, the book is going to come out anyway, so come on people, priorities! But I do get a tad bit sad because that just means, in my tiny little brain, that they're cooler than me. Which, again, is debatable. 

PS: I never started my blog with hopes of getting free books, I started it as a way to practice English and because no one liked the books I did and I wanted to talk about those books, and blogging was the only way I could think of to do so.

• Not comparing my blog with others

And the above issue brings me to this one. I've been giving this advice to tons of people who want to start blogging, to do their thing and not compare themselves to others, and you know what they say, it's way easier said than done. And I'm not talking about page views, followers, signal boosts or how friendly they are with people in the publishing industry. I'm talking content here, guys. Namely, discussion posts.

Side-note: I remember one of the first blogs I saw about 8 years ago, it was on Wordpress, and I think it was called something similar to "Shut up I'm reading" or something catchy like that. That blog was all about reviewing books. No memes, no features, no tags, no nothing. Just reviews. Then, as the blogging community started growing, it seemed like it wasn't cool anymore to write as many reviews. I get it, because if I'm going to write a review a day, that means I'd have to read more than 300 books a year, which I could probably never pull off, so you have to pace yourself.

But back to discussion posts. Those are the worst for me to write, present post not included, because every subject seems to have been already talked about. And it's difficult to say "Oh yeah, so what, I'll just write about it because I feel strongly about this and I want my opinion to be known, even if it may be similar to what someone else said". And if it's not something that I've seen other bloggers talk about, the same tiny evil brain goes "well then it's not something fun or interesting or engaging", so I just let it go. Then there's the 1% of ideas that I have that make me sound like the meanest bitch on the planet, because it's about stuff I don't like, much like with my Parents & YA discussion post. 

I need to stop thinking about it so much, and just be me.

Okay, so maybe I won't start shouting I'M BLOODY RUBY, but you know, the sentiment counts

Okay. So here's the thing. It's almost therapeutic getting these things out. Doesn't mean I'm not scared of what you guys might think when you get to the end of the post and maybe think about commenting (*wink*nudge*nudge*), but it's nice to be honest about this. I have no clue if others are the same way as me, maybe they are, but it's nice to think that maybe somewhere on the planet of blogging there's at least one such confusing creature as me. These are basically the things I'm struggling with when it comes to me being a blogger.

Let's chat: What are you struggling with as a blogger? How do you deal with it? And if you don't have such issues, what is your secret and teach me your ways.